How do you decide whether to work in Freelancer jobs or Full-Time jobs?
Sometimes, you feel like the grass is greener on the other side.
If you are working on Freelance projects, you wish you had the stability of a day job, or perhaps you yearn for being able to be able to measure yourself through a promotion.
Or vice versa, perhaps you are worn down from going to the same office for multiple years. Or perhaps you've recently seen the super high billing rates that your company's consultant is paying.
Sometimes, the best way to think about something is to think about the positives of a choice, and to see which is more important to the things that matter to your: your happiness, your family, your career
Positives:
Cons
Pros
Cons
Think about what is most important to you? And at what point are you in your life?
Are you ok with less certainty? Will you gain more happiness by having more variety but less certainty?
Have you tried the other one yet? if not, t hen dip your toe in the water and see what it is like!
If you are a full-time employee, perhaps you can take a bit of time off work (perhaps even a sabbatical?) and try a consulting project for a month or two, and see if you are drawn to this.
If you are a Freelancer for a long time, perhaps take a longer assignment, and invest some time spending more time at the employer office and getting to know the company’s colleagues. Are you getting more meaning and substance from knowing your colleagues and building these relationships? Or are you feeling strangled by the lack of change?
If you are a full time-employee, reach out to a couple consultants/freelancers and see what they have to say about it. See if you can subcontract off of them. Ask them how they built up their clientele.
Have other thoughts on this? Please provide and share!